How the Tables Turn

Ashes sat at her kitchen table. To be honest, she was getting tired of waiting. Then again, who says Phoenix had to be the one to check on her? Maybe it could be the other way around from time to time.

She took one last sip of her coffee and got to her hooves. She went to her bathroom and looked at her reflection in the water in the sink. It was the closest she could get to a mirror in the Underground. Her mane looked okay as far as she could tell, its ashy gray strands almost long enough to touch the water from where her head was positioned. Perhaps she should cut it soon. She left her bathroom and went to her front door.

“I’ll be back with Phoenix.” The other three mares nodded in response. She walked through the door and turned towards Phoenix’s house. Just as she reached for his doorknob, his door swung open to reveal Phoenix.

Something smelled like citrus.

“Oh, hi Phoenix. I was just on my way to check on you. What smells like citrus?”

“Me. Trust me, you don’t want to know why.” Ashes rolled her eyes. That statement seemed to get tossed around more and more recently. She did not pry, though. If Phoenix said she didn’t want to know, chances were she didn’t.

“We’re waiting for you next door.”

“What, am I supposed to be their leader?”

“Sure, why not?” It was Phoenix’s turn to roll his eyes as he walked past her.

“I’ll get enough leadership when we break out of this hellhole.”

He opened Ashes’ door and walked into her house. As promised, the other three sat in the living room expectantly.

“Don’t you three have anything better to do than sit around and wait for me?”

Ashes was the first to retort, sounding irritated as she did so. “Hey, they don’t know this place at all, and they don’t know what they’re supposed to do.”

“Good point. You’re not really supposed to do anything. Nopony cares what you do in your spare time. Just trot around and don’t die.” Phoenix suddenly realized the implications in his words. “Not that anypony out there’s going to kill you or anything. Know what? Forget I said that. Just… try not to be depressed or scared. The guards eat that stuff up like candy.”

“The drawing is today.”

Silence. All eyes were on Ashes, who had addressed the elephant in the room. Fear gripped the five of them. For Ashes and Phoenix, it was fear for the other three, who were no doubt fearing for themselves. Phoenix decided to break the ice.

“Yeah, they’re definitely not going to be depressed or scared now.”

“I was just pointing it out.” She turned her attention to the three pegasi in the living room. “Look, you’re not going to be drawn. And if you are, then we’ll just have to break out sooner.”

“There’s no point worrying about it until we know for sure,” Phoenix stated with confidence. “After all, we still haven’t gotten your numbers. Maybe that means you won’t be in the drawing.” He knew that wasn’t the case, but anything that would calm them was worth trying.

The five ponies trotted into the cafeteria of the Underground. They checked the wall of names, and no numbers had been posted for Sunbeam and Cloud Kicker. In fact, all the other numbers had been scrubbed away. Just as they were about to speculate on the matter, two unicorn guards trotted onto the stage.

“Ponies of the Underground. May I have your attention, please?” Phoenix began to wonder if Mistress was actually just a broken record hidden away somewhere. “As some of you may have noticed, the numbers are gone.

“I decided that the numbers system was getting complicated and much too large. The numbers are gone. We will, from here on out, use names instead. For those of you whose names are not known, your codenames will be used. As it sits, the only ponies here who must go by a code name are our three newcomers.

“I have made one other change to the drawing. It has come to my attention that some ponies in the facility are lucky enough not to be drawn often enough to discourage them from making plans of rebellion.” What?

She couldn’t know. She couldn’t. Who would’ve told her? How would she have found out? Phoenix’s world came crashing down around him as he realized what this meant. He was sure they would still go through with it. It would only be more difficult.

He was prepared for difficulty, though.

“To remedy this, I have decided that I shall have the first say in who goes, before the rest of the names are drawn.” WHAT???

“She didn’t.” Phoenix was glad to hear that he wasn’t the only one indignated by this change. Ashes stood next to him, eyes sharp as a knife and burning with rage. The other three, along with everypony else, simply looked fearful.

“Now, I shall reveal names. The first three, of course, are our rookies. They will require a proper welcome.”

Red. Anypony around will tell you that red was a symbol of rage.

Red was suddenly everything that Phoenix saw.

It replaced the white that was all around him. The walls, the ceiling, the stage curtain, even the ponies were tinted a blazing red.

Phoenix felt heat rise up in his body. His blood boiled, his eyes burned, and he was ready to escape right then and there and pummel Mistress until she no longer resembled a pony.

How dare she? How dare she even try to put three innocent ponies through total hell? It wasn’t right, it wasn’t moral. Phoenix began to wonder if she even resembled a pony to begin with.

“The other two I have chosen are the two that have rallied around them.

“White Phoenix and Emerald Ashes.”